McMullen FFA won the Golden Horizon Award, received a gold rating and placed second in the state for single-teacher departments at the state FFA Convention last summer. Now with the addition of Barry Randolph as the new ag mechanics teacher, McMullen FFA is up against much larger schools in the two-teacher division.

And for the last seven years, McMullen FFA has consistently placed in the top 10, McMullen FFA teacher Jim Harris said.

“Now we are in a whole new situation with two teachers, so we are competing with all the big boys now,” Harris said.

McMullen FFA has 80 members, eight of whom are seniors, but is now up against FFA chapters with 300-400 members. This week, 35 of McMullen FFA’s students are competing in district Career Development Events for plant identification, land judging, homesite evaluation and range evaluation at the Peeler Ranch in Atascosa County.

Then on Oct. 2, they will compete in the area contest, and Harris said they are aiming to place in the top five and qualify for state.

“We are excited to have Mr. Randolph with us,” Harris said. “He comes with good credentials.”

Harris said Randolph’s previous students won grand champion with their ag mechanics project at the San Antonio and Houston Livestock Show. Now that he’s at McMullen Independent School District, he’s teaching his students everything he knows about welding.

New facility

As the McMullen FFA program grows, their facilities will also be growing this school year. Fifty-six trucks delivered 550 yards of concrete to the new ag mechanics shop, and the concrete slab was poured on Sept. 11, Albert Soto, project architect with Lamar Womack and Associates Architects, said.

Soto also said the vapor barrier was installed over the cut beams in the foundation, and rebar is currently being installed in the beams and draped over the slab area. The area was inspected on Sept. 23 by a structural engineer, and the concrete was poured on Sept. 25.

Harris said he, Randolph and the students are excited about the new facility and look forward to using it once it’s complete.